(soft instrumental)
♪
mike: We are the holmes family.
We've been inspired by individuals from across
the country who are making a difference in their communities.
This place is broken.
The world keeps telling these kids that they are not enough.
Everything is at stake.
Mike: So now we're taking on our most important renovation
projects yet...
Surprise!
(screaming)
...To transform their rundown and worn-out spaces...
Oh, my god.
...The only way we know how.
Oh, my god.
Wow.
Fantastic.
It is going to change lives forever.
Mike: This is holmes family effect.
(soft instrumental)
♪
I'm really excited today.
We get the chance to help the future generations
get into the trades.
I love it.
Let's do it.
Mike: We're almost there.
Sherry, can you give us the top lines.
Sherry: Sure.
Judith nyman secondary school is a trade school.
Students go there after facing challenges in traditional
high schools and have the chance to learn
valuable hands-on skills.
Mike: The same way I was taught.
Sherry: Exactly.
Students at the school can study programs like culinary, fashion,
automotive, woodworking, and construction.
We are facing such a shortage in the skilled trades right now.
We need to start educating these kids while they're young
that it's a viable career.
Sherry: The school home renovation and woodworking
classes are in need of some major help.
One of the students named riley has asked for our help.
She has fallen in love with working the trades,
and really wants to pursue it as a career.
Love that.
♪
when I was younger, I hated school.
I hated everything about it.
I was more of a tomboy.
I liked playing in the mud, climbing trees.
My grades sucked.
I learn differently than other people and so I always
got called names.
It made me feel dumb.
It made me feel like I was useless
and I just didn't want to live anymore, honestly.
I didn't want to be in the world.
♪
coming here to judith nyman secondary school in grade 9
made me realize that I loved to build things.
Putting things that I picture in my head
and making it in real life.
Like, okay, that's mine. I did that.
Wow.
And I love that feeling.
It started opening me up and I feel like I am who I am now.
This is me.
We're going to trace it a little bigger
because it doesn't fit.
Mr. Meleca is a great teacher.
Having a great teacher who believes in me feels amazing.
He looks for the good in us
and I know it helps a lot of students.
It's probably broken.
We're going to have to throw this one.
I love being a teacher here but there's a lot of obstacles.
There is funding cuts.
Trying to find stuff to run my program is a second job.
I leave my own family on weekends
to try to go look for wood or drywall.
It's exhausting.
But I've seen the difference that this program makes
in the life of my students.
They've gone to be successful.
They have jobs.
They buy homes.
I love the school so much
and I hope I inspired the holmes family.
We need help.
Let's go surprise these students.
I'm in. Let's do it.
(upbeat instrumental)
♪
so, do you remember being in school when you were younger?
Yeah.
It feels like a long time ago.
I would like to not say anything because I
don't want feel--
I was going to say it would be a lot longer for you.
(laughing)
we got to be quiet, they're in class right now.
So, guys, look.
We're going to learn how to repair a hole in drywall.
What you're going to do is you're going to take a hammer,
not your fist, break a little hole in your drywall.
(whispers) okay, here we go.
(door squeaks open)
what you'll do is you'll grab...
All: Surprise!
(cheering)
awesome!
I can't believe it!
The holmes family is actually here.
They answered my call.
Riley, your cause has inspired our family.
And because of you, judith nyman secondary school
will receive a life-changing transformation.
(cheering)
good job, good job.
I'm so excited.
I'm speechless.
I might cry, eh.
So I never cry.
This is very emotional.
The holmes family walks in into my class.
It's incredible.
It's a dream come true for me.
This is amazing.
This transformation for the school is going to be fantastic.
How many of you actually plan on getting into the skilled
trades after high school?
Pretty much all of you.
Yeah, pretty much all of them.
And you know what?
I think they'll all be really good at it.
I think it's pretty exciting to have a woman nominate
the school, first of all. Yes.
And to see all the other women in class.
There's a lot of girls in the trades.
It's awesome.
Riley.
Frank.
Show us around because I'd like to see everything that we have
here to see what we can do.
Okay?
You guys take a break.
Mike: Thanks, guys.
♪
let's walk around and take a look at some of the problems
that we have in here.
This construction workshop is functional
but it's a little exhausted.
We have our wall of tools here.
Definitely have all kinds of plaster on them.
They're older tools.
What frustrates me is when is when I go to cut a piece of
drywall and the saw won't go through the drywall
because it's so dull
or all the blades are broken for all the knives.
I see a lot of filing cabinets here.
Whenever we can find older filing cabinets
that all the other classes threw out,
I usually pick it up and try to
just make some storage out of it.
Even the office in the back there,
it's supposed to be storage.
Mike: This is supposed to be your office?
Meleca: That's supposed to be my office.
It's more of a huge storage area.
Wow. I'm shocked.
Mr. Meleca needs an office.
I see the workstations.
Right.
For our senior classes they build a mock bathroom.
I love that you're teaching them basic electrical.
At the same time you're going to drywall it,
you're going to tile.
Yeah.
Right now I'm trying to squeeze in two to three students into
one station.
Mr. Meleca is using these small building spaces
the best he can,
but the stalls are designed for one student to learn,
not three at a time.
Michael, what have you heard so far?
What do we need?
We need storage.
We need an office. We need tools.
We need workspaces.
We need a lot. We do.
(laughing)
mike: This is only the first classroom.
Let's head to the woodworking shop.
♪
oh, look, woodworking.
Meleca: It's a bit tight.
It is.
And imagine 17 students in here.
A lot of them are bumping into each other.
Especially routing,
you get bumped and you take a big chunk out of your wood
and it's just like, dang it.
This woodworking shop needs major updating.
It's just a little too old to give the kids up to date skills.
Let's see the last room.
♪
this is potentially supposed to be our new masonry room.
But as you can tell, it's a storage room for everyone
around the school.
We've been trying to do masonry for the last
six years, trying to get a class up and going.
I don't know what's going to happen.
The school is on the verge of shutting more programs down.
The electricity program has almost shut down.
The students actually had to start up a protest
to keep electrical running in the school.
Ohh.
And we're the only school that offers a full high school
electrical program, which is pretty sad.
That cannot happen.
As far as I'm concerned,
my family is going to make sure
nothing closes down in the school.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
You're a good man. Thank you.
You're an inspiring young lady.
Thank you.
There's lots of potential in these three classrooms.
We've got about three weeks to come up with a great plan
to make it work before the next semester starts.
This is going to be a big job.
(instrumental rock)
back at hq we're coming up with a plan to update these
three spaces and transform them into modern tech classrooms.
We've been to the school.
We've seen all three rooms.
Here's the goal.
We want to completely transform the space
so it's more efficient.
First thing we can do is get mr. Meleca and all the students
and clear out everything.
Right now the woodworking shop is really cramped and has a
really bad layout.
My idea is to take the renovation class
and swap it with the woodworking class.
The square footage is bigger than the woodworking class.
This is going to work for the kids.
The biggest job for the new woodworking shop is going to be
the dust collection system.
Have to take it down and reroute everything.
The old woodworking shop is going to become
the new home reno class.
Let's build some wall sections so the students can work on
both sides with drywall, plumbing, et cetera.
I think we should add in some slat walls and give the students
all the tools they need.
Mike: And it's really organized.
Great idea.
Let's take the old storage room and convert that to the new
masonry class.
I love that.
I think we should bring in our mason and actually get them to
build walls for the students to practice on.
We can bring in a wet saw,
a cement mixer so they can really learn
as much as possible.
I'd like to open up the wall in between the masonry class
and the new home reno class,
and what that's going to do is allow
frank and the students to work back and forth right from
home reno class to masonry,
build a home inside and out.
We have a big job ahead of us and we've got to do it fast.
We got to get mr. Meleca and the students back in the school.
Let's do it.
Alright.
(whoosh)
(upbeat instrumental music)
♪
mike: We only have 21 days to transform each classroom,
so I've called in mr. Meleca and his students to help us.
♪
it's simple, I am down for three days.
Man: You're down for three days.
Mike: That hurts.
Am I worried about the timeline?
Yes, I am.
(rock instrumental)
♪
good morning.
All: Good morning.
Okay, a new class has begun.
You're in the school of holmes.
We got a big job today with lots to tear down.
Three areas we will be working in:
Woodworking class, construction class,
and we will be building a masonry shop.
Yes!
(cheering)
does everyone want to break some stuff?
All: Yeah!
Let's have fun.
That's awesome.
♪
they're clearing everything out, we're getting the job done
in record time.
Now we want to break some stuff with a sledgehammer, right?
All: Yeah!
(crashing)
this is awesome!
Riley's doing great, the kids are working so hard,
everything's falling into place.
Good teamwork, guys.
♪
I wish I had this many people on our crew all the time.
(crashing)
♪
we're making an opening between the masonry and home
reno shop.
So mr. Meleca and the students can move large projects between
the two spaces.
I had my masons come in.
They've cut the top of the wall, they put in the lintel,
put in some brick.
Want to see how easy it is?
Yes.
Come on.
Alright.
Derek, are we clear?
You're all clear!
Mike: One, two, three.
(rustling)
(crashing)
(cheering)
man: That was awesome!
That's how you take it down.
Man: Thank you.
♪
frank, now that the demo is finished, you're gonna leave.
Yes, okay.
Because we do like surprises.
Frank: Yes.
Mike: You feel good?
I feel great.
Mike: You're smiling.
Yes, I know, this is amazing.
This is awesome.
Giving these students a future is very important to me.
They deserve a fighting chance.
I relate to these students
because I was one of these students.
At high school, I wasn't a high achiever.
I was bullied, called dumb, I was always distracted,
I couldn't keep my focus. But I loved cars.
Our family business was auto mechanics.
I used to go there and I used to shine.
I always felt that I could achieve whatever I wanted
by working with my hands.
And I just explain to the students I teach, say look,
you know, you're not dumb, you're not stupid,
you learn differently, you learn with your hands.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Mr. Meleca is a role model to me in a huge way.
He makes me feel like I can be successful,
and I can do a lot of things.
As a teacher, we can shape the future
for some of these students.
Some of them don't have homes,
some of them are in a foster care.
We'll buy kids lunch, or we'll buy them some clothes.
It's about just being there for them.
He's a great guy.
He even cares about my future.
He's like a mentor.
He's like a father figure.
They can make it if they really want to make it.
It's just, they haven't found the right road,
so I try to direct them down the right road.
Alright, come on in here.
I have a great idea.
I feel like with everything mr. Meleca is doing,
we need to give something back to him.
I think this space should be his office.
That would be so cool, and he would appreciate that so much.
He needs a place for organization, like paperwork.
You're gonna help me do it.
Okay.
This is our project, it's also a secret.
We're not telling mr. Meleca.
Okay.
Okay, awesome day, riley. Let me give you a ride home.
♪
do you have any advice as a woman, in like, the skills
trades industry?
Buckle down, work hard, because as a young woman,
sometimes people can look at you and be like,
oh, she just wants to try,
she doesn't know what she's doing.
But if you put everything you have into this job,
they're gonna respect you that much more for working for it.
Actually I have a question, you're 18 years old?
Yeah.
How do you already know what you want to do in life?
I didn't have any of my life figured out at 18.
Honestly, I think my brother's a big reason why.
Sherry: How old is he?
He's six years old. His name is grayson.
Grayson: Oh no!
I help, I help.
I love being a big sister.
I was only 12 when my brother was born, but right away just
experiencing that and just the way I loved him
and the way I felt about him, it matured me so much.
And when he was three, he was diagnosed with autism.
You want to go to the park?
Go wee on the swing?
Wee!
He has different ways of expressing his emotions.
And he's also non-verbal.
I'm his like, coping person, I guess.
He gravitates towards you?
Yeah.
Pump your legs.
Good job!
Wow, grayson!
My parents are not together,
so my mom takes care of my brother.
He needs to be watched 24/7, right, or he could get hurt.
And it makes it so she can't work.
She's taking care of grayson full time?
Yeah.
The relationship between riley and her brother grayson
is absolutely amazing.
Riley always keeps her brother in mind,
as she knows that the possibility is there
that she may be his caregiver for his adult life.
I just want to be able to, like, help my family out,
and be able to take care of grayson.
He's so lucky that he has someone like you in his corner.
I'm lucky to have him, someone to actually
have something to inspire me.
Oh my god, could you be a nicer person?
Wow!
Thank you. Wow!
You're gonna have such a promising career in the trades,
and I can't wait to see you graduate and see what you do.
Aw thank you! I hope so too.
♪
(dynamic instrumental music)
♪
it's day three and we're on schedule,
just the way I like it.
The three shops are being primed and painted black and yellow,
the school colours.
And we have the hvac installers coming in
to take out the old dust collection system,
and install a new system
in what will become the new woodworking shop.
I'm a happy guy, let's keep it that way.
It's actually bigger next door for the woodworking class.
That makes a lot more sense,
you're gonna need more space for woodworking
and then having the renovation room next to the masonry room,
I think that's a nice flow.
Master blake?
I've got some pretty bad news.
The school board just called, the original contractors that
were gonna do the hvac here have been called to another school.
So you're saying that the dust collection system
cannot be moved over to the other room?
Yeah.
Man, that sucks.
We planned this whole renovation to switch the renovation room
with the wood shop room,
and without an hvac contractor that the school approves,
we can't do that.
We did all this work, all this planning,
and things have to stay the same.
That means our whole plan kind of goes to nothing.
What're we gonna do?
(dynamic music)
so you're saying that the dust collection
cannot be moved over to the other room?
Yeah.
We don't have long to finish this project
to get the kids back in here. What're we gonna do?
I don't like surprises,
I don't like at the 11th hour
that all of a sudden we may have to make a change.
That becomes an issue.
We should probably think of plan b.
Plan b being the spaces don't change.
Plan b sucks, plan a is what we've come up with.
We should phone other people,
we should get on top of this right away.
My dad thinks we can just pick up the phone,
call another contractor, and they're gonna come in.
We don't have that kind of time.
We came here to do this.
And that's exactly what we're going to do.
'cause we didn't come here
just to put lipstick and mascara on a pig.
That problem must be fixed.
There is nothing that I accept in any other way
of going to a plan b.
We have to find somebody to do this, that's as simple as that.
(upbeat instrumental music)
♪
(buzzing)
so it's tools down in two of the three shops
until we figure out this dust collection problem.
And I'm not a happy guy right now.
At least there's good news.
We can get a head start with the new masonry shop.
♪
our masons are building practice walls.
This is gonna help the students learn to spread mortar,
and lay bricks.
♪
riley and I are on track with building mr. Meleca's new
office, but before we bring in the cabinetry,
we have to lay the flooring.
So this is like, a vinyl with a cork on the bottom.
Have you ever used a miter saw?
No, I haven't.
So for this saw, press on the safety,
and that's the trigger to get it going.
To be doing this for mr. Meleca makes me feel great
that I'm giving something back to him.
He's been giving so much to us, and I feel like he needs
something for himself.
(buzzing)
sherry!
Sherry: I'm here.
It keeps on stopping halfway through.
Okay, so when you cut it,
make sure you don't let go of the safety.
If you take it off, it's gonna stop working.
Okay.
♪
working with sherry on this project is very cool.
I like learning new things,
I like having to figure out things.
Makes me feel like I'm also learning a new piece of myself.
♪
(buzzing)
looks good!
I really enjoy riley as a person.
I think she's such a strong, amazing young woman.
She wants to work, she wants to learn,
she wants to better herself,
so she makes me want to be a better person,
and work harder.
Just help me quick in the corner.
♪
alright, I think that looks good!
Riley: It looks great.
♪
morning!
Morning, guys!
Let's all get on the bus!
I'm taking mr. Meleca and his students on a field trip today.
Alright, so we planned a really exciting day today.
Who here likes woodworking? Raise your hand.
Okay, we're actually building brand new tabletops
for the classroom.
(cheering)
alright, let's go build some stuff!
(cheering)
mike jr: We're heading to canadian woodworks,
a custom woodworking shop,
where these kids are gonna get a chance to build something
that will live in their school for years to come.
♪
alexis, what brought you to judith nyman?
The home reno and the culinary programs.
That's cool.
So what's your goal?
Are you wanting to open your own restaurant?
Yeah, that's always been my goal.
Why is the renovation program important to you?
Because it's a skill that you're gonna need.
Absolutely.
Instead of paying someone to come in, paying the big bucks,
you can just do it yourself.
Exactly. So when you do own your own restaurant,
you're gonna be able to do the drywall work,
you're gonna be able to do the mudding and taping,
and you're gonna be able to be proud of it.
Yeah. You have a good vision moving forward.
Well thank you.
I like it. I can't wait to eat at your restaurant.
I'll expect to see you there! Yeah!
♪
so what brought you to judith nyman secondary school, jahiem?
Well, I was actually put there because I used to be like,
angry all the time at people.
Really?
To be honest, I used to get bullied since elementary school.
What did you get bullied for?
My anger problem.
I used to get upset very easily.
Ever since I came to judith nyman,
I kind of, I know how to control my anger now.
And you learned a lot of this at judith nyman? Or...
Yeah, I have such amazing friends
and really nice teachers,
and I got to do home renovations and welding,
which are, like, now my two favourite things in the world.
I feel like it just calms me down and stuff like that.
That's really cool. Thanks for talking to me, jahiem.
No problem.
♪
let's go!
♪
paul: Oh, you got an army behind you.
Yeah, we came with a team.
Paul: Nice to meet you.
Michael: Good to see ya.
My friend paul owns this shop and he's going to work
with the students to make these new desktops.
Alright, so, we're going to bring the wood over.
Alright, perfect.
Then we're gonna glue all these pieces together.
♪
now we can just flip the board down.
♪
there we go. Thank you.
Michael: After the glue is dried,
the desktops are sanded.
The school logo is engraved on them and filled in with epoxy.
(chuckles) I feel like I'm cooking, but I'm not.
Don't eat it.
Being here, it just makes me happy 'cause, like,
this is what I love to do.
♪
there we go. Yeah, nice.
Temesgan, what do you think?
Do you like woodworking?
Yeah.
So we'll leave it at that.
This will be hard in about 20 minutes and we'll be able
to sand it away.
♪
right there. Watch your step.
Nice.
♪
paul: That was great.
Good work, guys.
Riley: That was so cool.
♪
it's so cool to see these students jump in
and get their hands dirty.
We're gonna be sitting in class now at these desks
knowing that, that we built these
and I think they're gonna take pride in this forever.
All: Wow.
Riley: That's beautiful.
My god, I love that.
♪
so we're facing yet another problem.
I wasn't planning on resurfacing the floors in all the shops,
but these concrete floors are badly damaged.
Because these workshops will get heavy traffic from the students
and wear from the machines,
we're gonna lay an epoxy flooring.
It's durable and safer for the kids in the long run.
♪
so we're going to be shutting down for?
Three days.
After the prep is done.
Mike: That hurts.
Is there a way you do one room and then the other room?
You know, well, once we get started,
it's better to just continue.
We have our mixing stations set up.
Okay, so, it's simple.
I'm down for three days.
You're down for three days.
Okay.
So now our schedule is out the window.
♪
I don't know what to say about our timeline right now.
We're calling around trying to move this project along,
but there are no hvac installers available anywhere
in this short of notice
and my dad doesn't even want to consider a plan b.
As we wait for the epoxy flooring to finish,
this entire project is on hold.
Right now, I don't even think we'll be finished
these classrooms before the next semester starts,
but we can't let everyone in the school down.
♪
(upbeat instrumental music)
♪
so this is where we're at.
We have no hvac installers.
Now we have a three-day delay because we have to wait
for the epoxy to dry and set.
♪
so as we wait, I'm going to put my teacher's hat on.
I've invited mr. Meleca and his students to get a master class
in construction on one of my job sites.
I wanna show you the future of where you could be going.
In the skilled trades, you will never stop working.
The opportunity is massive and at the end of the day, it feels
really good when the job is done and you say, "I did that."
come on inside.
♪
(whirring)
okay, so, we're gonna take this wall out.
Does everyone notice there's an old roof line right here?
This used to be the exterior wall.
What we're doing now is we're opening it up
to a cathedral ceiling.
It creates the open concept right through.
It's going to be a beautiful home.
This is incredible.
We've never been on a real job site working side by side
with not only framers and carpenters,
but now it's with mike holmes.
As a teacher, this is what we work for.
This is what we want to see in our students.
We wanna see them learning.
We want to see their minds going.
Just lift it straight up.
Today confirms that I wanna go into this line of work.
I can't see myself at a computer desk,
but I can see myself building a house.
Paul: Finger on the trigger and bounce the gun.
There you go.
Alright, one more.
Working with mike's crew is so wonderful.
It's so inspiring and in the future, I see myself doing it
every single day.
You guys are doing awesome.
♪
the students being here today, you can see the looks
in their eyes.
The passion, they're already feeling it.
They're liking being here.
They are.
And it shows.
They're listening to paul.
They're listening to bailey. Frank: They are.
And they're listening to you.
What's better than trying to train young adults
to become trades people?
I don't know.
The best thing is to try to give them a future.
I think that's why I teach.
If you're a good teacher, students want to learn
and you're a good teacher.
Thank you.
♪
okay, guys, the bus is out front.
Did you have fun?
All: Yes!
Thank you.
Thank you!
Leaving here today, I would like the students to take away
that there's an opportunity for future trades in them.
These are smart students with bright futures.
♪
am I still worried about the timeline?
Yes, I am.
With just a week left to finish.
The epoxy floors are drying.
We're finishing up the plumbing and we're getting ready
to install some new woodworking machines.
You're kidding me, right?
This is the call I've been waiting for.
♪
andre. Boy, am I glad to see you.
We finally found an hvac contractor that's going
to set up the dust collection system
in the new woodworking shop.
I gotta tell you, man.
You stepped up to the plate
and you're making a difference for this school.
Thank you.
Now we can stick to plan a and move the woodworking shop
into the bigger shop next door.
You know what?
I don't need a plan b. Never have.
♪
this is a huge relief.
As this system keeps the air in the woodworking shop clear
of sawdust and creates an overall safe environment.
But we're really up against it now.
Finishing this job on time is going to be a huge challenge.
How's it going in the new woodworking shop?
Uh, good.
Things are busy.
Andrew, how are you doing on the electrical?
What do we have left?
Uh, once they start getting machines in,
we can start dropping the coils and get everything hooked up,
ready to go.
King donated all these machines here brand-new.
There's a lot of new feeds coming in.
A lot of hvac that's going to have to be run to each machine.
Might be some late nights.
This is really tight, but you gotta focus at the end:
Why are we here.
Help the kids.
♪
alright, class, I am mr. Holmes.
You can call me michael.
(laughter)
today, the students are finishing the desktops
we're working on.
Adding legs and oiling them.
Very carefully.
Are we gonna wear our glasses, mr. Holmes?
Of course we're gonna wear our glasses.
Got me.
It was a test. She passed.
So very carefully, you're not gonna sink these screws, okay?
♪
I am so excited to see the renovations
and the work that has been done.
Knowing what the holmes family can do,
I know these tech classes are gonna be beautiful.
It's gonna change a lot of people's lives.
Okay, the next step now that these are all screwed down
is to oil them.
I am really excited.
I was afraid that the home renovation
was gonna get shut down,
but now that there is a lot of hope for it
and it seems like a miracle.
♪
hey, everyone! How's it going?
I brought a special guest with me.
Why don't you come in?
You all know who this is.
(cheering)
(upbeat instrumental music)
♪
hey, everyone! How's it going?
I brought a special guest with me.
I've asked the most famous alumni
of judith nyman secondary school
to come surprise these kids.
Why don't you come in?
You all know who this is.
(cheering)
(applause)
comedy legend russell peters.
Well, your special guest is happy to be here.
This school shaped me to who I am today.
So when somebody who I respect asked me to come down,
it's all, it's all aces for me.
Welcome back to my old high school.
I was never in this class, but--
mike: What did you do?
I did chef training.
It's exactly what I ended up doing with life.
(laughter)
mike: You're cooking it right.
Well, I'm eating at least, that's for sure.
(laughter)
mike: Frank.
Hey, frank. How are ya?
Nice to meet ya.
You are the oldest student I've ever seen in my life.
I know, eh?
Mike: So my daughter sherry.
I think she looks like me, don't you?
Uh, no. She's pretty.
(laughter)
sherry: I'll take it.
Mike, you're pretty much a giant human being so.
Yeah, yeah.
You're like 6'4"?
Michael: Yeah.
Yeah, me too.
(laughter)
I'm having a 5'11" kind of day.
(laughter)
these tables are going to be for the workshop.
Russell: Oh, wow.
I can't believe russell peters is here.
He's so famous.
He's such a nice person and so down to earth.
You're getting a good education here.
Other schools don't teach the way this school teaches.
They kind of just throw the work at you and then they give you
a test and then if you pass the test you move on.
But this school cares if you know what you're doing.
This school changed my life because the teachers here
actually care about students.
It's not about getting a grade.
It's about learning something.
The students actually all came together to build these
table tops, so I had an idea.
I thought we could sign the bottom of that desk.
I'm with ya.
That's awesome, yes.
♪
so when you were in school here, did you really love it?
I, I actually really loved this school.
A lot of the kids in here much like myself didn't come
from high economic backgrounds.
So I started a scholarship that gives them $20,000 a year
to pay for their college and stuff.
Oh, my goodness. That's amazing.
I love that.
Sherry: Wow.
And I only did it
because I genuinely care about this school.
Like, I went to another school down the road
for grade nine and 10 and I got kicked out of there.
And then you came here.
I came here and I fit right in.
I was like, oh, this is more my speed.
I would probably would have never graduated high school
if I didn't come to this school.
It is so cool for russell to do this for the kids.
These are memories they'll never forget.
Sherry: It look graffiti-ish.
I used to tag buses back in the day.
That wasn't the first time I signed a table in this school.
Mike: Let's give him a big hand for coming in to see you.
Thank you, russell. Russell: Thanks, guys.
♪
the start of the new semester is just around the corner
and there's still tons to do.
We need to finish the practice walls in the new home reno room.
We're giving them a whole renovation area.
They have the ability to do a kitchen--
if they want to do a kitchen--
a bathroom, drywall work, electrical work.
So, we're elevating their learning to a whole other level.
New garage doors need to be installed in all three rooms,
and sherry is busy installing the new cabinetry.
♪
no peeking. I won't.
Promise? Yup.
Alright, let's do this.
This is the last day we have to
complete everything before reveal.
Riley and I are rushing to try to finish installing
the cabinetry in mr. Meleca's new office.
Are you gonna miss us?
Yeah, I'm gonna miss you guys so much.
Thank you so much for teaching me.
It's amazing to be able to, like, learn from another woman
who's in the trades.
Well, it's nice to just work with another woman in
the trades, and someone who wants to get in it.
I'm graduating this year and, like, before I was scared
to graduate, but now that I've been working with sherry
and working with the holmes family
and actually know what I want to do in the future,
graduating isn't scary at all.
I think you have such great promise.
Thank you. I look up to you so much.
Oh, yeah. (chuckling)
this has been such a rewarding experience for me.
I can't wait for mr. Meleca to see our teamwork.
♪
tim.
Tim: Hey, guys. How are you doing?
There's no way we could do this transformation at judith nyman
secondary school without the help of the trades community.
Tim: This is a gift from the
ontario masonry contractors' association.
Wonderful. How nice. Yay.
Michael: This is unreal.
They're donating scaffolding, machinery and bags filled
with every tool a mason needs.
Mike: These are awesome bags. Tim: Yeah, they are.
There's a lot of these.
Michael: How many you got?
I've got six.
Michael: He's got six bags. I can beat that.
Give me seven.
Sherry: Well, if michael's got seven bags, give me eight.
Tim: Okay, feats of strength, you know. (sherry chuckles)
how many you gonna take?
Sherry: I need one more bag to beat michael.
Mike jr: Let me count. Just hold up.
One, two... One, two, three, four, five--
hold on. I lost count.
One... Oh my god! Get out of my way.
That's seven. You didn't beat the score.
♪
oh, no way. This is a beautiful machine.
This cnc machine is worth over $20,000.
It's the same type of machine that the students used to
engrave the school logos on the desks that they made.
This is pretty cool. Thank you, steve.
Guys, we're thrilled to be a part of this.
They are set up.
♪
transforming these three shops has been a real challenge,
but it will be so worth it to hand them back
to mr. Meleca and the students tomorrow.
I don't know how we got here in the end, but I'm happy we did.
♪
(dynamic instrumental music)
♪
mike: Our team worked hard and pushed the limits.
Reveal day is finally here.
Sherry: This school is a strong community and
we are thankful to everyone who helped us along this journey.
Mike jr: I can't wait for their reactions
once they see how we've transformed their classrooms.
♪
mr. Meleca, riley, you ready to go in?
Yes, I'm very excited. Riley: Yeah. I'm very excited.
And I can't wait to see it.
Alright. Here we go.
Let's go.
Mike: Frank. Oh my god. (chuckles)
holy smokes. (chuckling)
oh my god. Look at this.
This is crazy.
Riley: I can't believe it.
Wow.
(dynamic instrumental music)
let's go.
Mike: Frank. Oh my god. (chuckles)
holy smokes. (chuckling)
wow.
Look at this. This is crazy.
♪
riley: I can't believe it.
Mike jr: This woodshop used to be cramped and outdated.
Now it's state-of-the-art.
♪
frank: It's amazing. Wow.
♪
I don't know what to say.
And this happened because of you.
Thank you; I don't even know how to repay you.
This is... This room is incredible.
It's going to help my program,
it's going to help the school, and I'm just so happy.
Mike: We've painted, epoxied the floors,
added much-needed storage, new garage doors,
an effective dust collection system, and new classrooms.
Riley: I really love the tool wall.
That's just awesome.
Wow.
This is a cnc machine.
12 brand new machines will allow students to learn
advanced woodworking skills.
I'm so excited to be able to come in here and
learn new things and use new equipment,
expand my knowledge of woodworking more.
Wow.
This is awesome.
Holy cow.
This is so cool.
Mike: Your home renovation class was cramped and rundown.
Now it has the tools and technology trades people
are using in the field.
Frank: I can't even believe this is the same room.
Mr. Meleca, this is about you and how to teach the students.
Putting up an actual to code wall
allows you to see the students-- frank: Yes.
--Doing drywall, doing electrical, doing plumbing.
This does work out very well for me.
It's going to be incredible.
Mike: Come on over here and see this little area here.
Sherry: Do you remember the wall you knocked down?
Frank: Yeah.
♪
riley: Wow. Holy cow, man.
Holy smokes.
Hoo-hoo. (chuckles) this is so cool.
♪
sherry: We've turned this old storage room into the
masonry class you've been dreaming about for six years.
Frank: This is crazy.
I can't believe-- like, look at this.
The ontario masonry contractors' association
and their partners
brought in the new cement mixer, wheelbarrows, the new wet saw,
scaffolds, everything you're going to need to teach
the next generation of masons.
This is awesome.
This is exactly what... What it needs to look like.
I don't know how to thank you guys anymore.
This is just incredible.
This is really gonna help me.
I feel like a parent here.
I feel like I'm helping students achieve things.
This room it's going to motivate more students to show them
that there's people out there that care.
So, this is going to act as your main office.
Holy smokes.
It looks-- it looks beautiful.
(heavy exhale)
do you like it?
I love it.
Sherry: You can see both classrooms--
the mason room, the home renovation room.
This is your space.
Riley and I did everything in this room.
We put the floors in, we put the cabinetry in.
Wow.
Having a teacher like you that believes in me and motivates me
is great, so to be able to do something for you
and make you happy just means a lot to me.
Well, thank you.
This is-- this is more than I could ever ask for.
Mike: Alright, come on out here.
Alright, we've shown you all three rooms.
Everyone that was part of this--
electricians, plumbers, painters, masonry--
all donations from beginning to end
add up to approximately $500,000.
Wow.
That's crazy.
That's a lot of money.
As far as I'm concerned, these students are worth every penny.
Alright, guys. Come on in.
(gasping, talking over each other)
come on in, you guys.
Come on over here.
This transformation has been incredible.
I didn't think this was possible.
It's so amazing. This is so inspiring to me.
Can I get all students around this bench, please?
We have another surprise for you.
As a thank you for being part of this journey,
here's a little something to help you continue
your hard work in the trades.
Every one of you is going home with the asus flip laptop.
No! (indistinct chatter)
are you kidding?
(talking over each other)
and you're also all going to get
bose soundsport wireless bluetooth in-ear earbuds.
(shouting over each other)
male student: Oh my god!
Are you ready? Do you want some stuff?
Wow.
Sherry: For you.
(talking over each other)
female student: Oh my god.
The asus flip laptop, it's slim, it's lightweight,
and it flips into a tablet.
Male student 2: Absolutely amazing. Wow.
Female student: What?
Female student 2: Oh my god.
Female student 3: Oh my god.
Sherry: Nice.
Riley: Holy cow, man. This is a lot.
♪
bose soundsport are water-resistant, comfortable,
and they stay in your ears all day.
(indistinct chatter)
male student: I can't believe it.
Frank: Thank you very much. That's awesome.
(applause)
riley, can you come up here please?
Oh, god.
(students laughing)
you know, riley, you have inspired us so much.
When you're finished school, us at the holmes group
would love to have you come as an apprentice.
Oh, wow.
(cheers and applause)
thank you so much.
You deserve it, riley.
(riley crying)
she really does.
I'm so down. I'm so excited to work with you guys.
Mike: We're here because of you.
(cheers and applause)
are you ready to let the rest of the students and community in?
All: Yes!
Mike: Come on, frank.
(cheers and applause)
(indistinct chatter)
my future is to work with the mike holmes crew,
and that is just a dream come true to me.
I feel more like myself than I ever did
and I appreciate so much.
♪
the effect the holmes family has had on this school,
it is going to change lives forever.
(cheers and applause)
(grand musical swell)